Coating gas-retorts



A. R. TERRY.

Coating Gas Retorts. No 11,-14 2. Patented June 20, 1854.

N, PETERS. Pholw-Lnho n her. Wuhmgiml, n4c.

ADRIAY TERRY, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

COATING GAS-RETORTS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 11,142, dated June 20, 1854.

T 0 all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I,'ADRIAN R. TERRY, of

the city of Detroit, county of Wayne, State of Michigan, have invented a new mode of protecting gas-retorts or ironthat is, the

retorts commonly used for manufacturing carbureted hydrogen gas from coal, wood, oil, resins, &c., for lighting and culinary purposes-from the destructive action of the fire and also from the action of the sulfur and other constituents of the materials used in making gas, which have a strong aflinity for iron at a high heat. By the same method of protection, gas retorts made of boiler or other thick sheet iron may be economically substituted for the more expen sive gas retorts of cast iron. And I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.

The gas-retorts now generally used are of f cast-iron, and the continued red heat, necessary to generate carbureted hydrogen gas, produces rapid oxidation on the outside; also the access of the atmospheric air to the inside of the retort during the process of removing the coke, cleaning the retort from ashes, and recharging it with coal or other materials, produces rapid reduction of temperature, and is according to known facts productive of changes in the arrangement of the molecules of the iron injurious to its strength; the action of the sulfur, too, contained in bituminous coal and some other products of its destructive distillation, as well as the'products of the same process from wood, and other substances used for making carbureted hydrogen gas, for lighting, culinary, and other purposes, have a powerful action on the inside of the retort, uniting with the iron and making brittle and friable compounds, which by cracking and scaling off, decrease the strength of the iron. All of which causes unite to destroy gas retorts, in a period extending from eight to fourteen months. There is another loss occasioned by the rapid cooling of the iron retorts, during the process of cleaning and charging; and that is in the quantity of gas manufactured in a given time. If the temperature is but slightly lowered, during the time of cleaning and charging, it is obvious that the evolution of gas will begin soon after the introduction of the new charge, but

' if a great loss of heat takes place during the retarded; this I consider a point of importance 1n my invention.

the object of my invention and this object I propose to attain in the following manner.

I envelop the retort from the flange at the gmouth, to the rear or back end, on the outi side, with a net work of annealed iron, steel, copper or brass wire or its equivalent metal ,lic cloth: the wires to be'so applied that ithey shall cross each other at different an- .igles and in different directions, so that they -may form meshes of about three-eighths of an inch, more or less in diameter. If wirecloth be employed the meshes should be about three eighths of an inch in diameter; Ein both methods the wire used should be from number eighteen to number twenty- ?two.

: silicious sand, and borax or some other alkaline, earthy or metallic flux or its equivalent, in the rat-i0 say of clay 30 parts, sand .66 parts, and fiuX 4 parts, by weight, tem- Q pered with water to the. consistence of thin To obviate these various disadvantages is V A compound of common blue clay (such: as is used for maklng coarse earthenware).

vmortar, should then be applied, over the j, wire net work, in a stratum about an eighth E of an inch thick and suffered to dry in the air, sheltered from rain and frost. I The quantity of sand must be increased or decreased according to the quality of theclay;

the rule being to add as much sand as possible, without impairing too much the adhe. siveness of the compound. The quantity of flux must be varied, according as one or an.- other is employed; the object being to make a covering which will" become semivitrified at the heat used for making carbureted hydrogen gas. The above proportion of flux is based on the employment of borate of soda or borax.

As soon as the first coat has attained a moderate degree of firmness, another coat of about half the thickness is applied, and when this is dry enough not to yield to pretty strong pressure with the finger, another network of wire is applied, and again two coatings of the composition. From five to eight networks of wire are to be applied, and, of course, from ten to sixteen strata of the composition. Each coating should be brushed over, when partially dry, with a strong solution of boraX or other alkaline fiHX or its equivalent. The aggregate thickness of the strata or coatings may vary from three-fourths of an inch to an inch and a half, according to the size of the retort, the heat to be employed &c.; the thicker the covering is, the less will be the heat lost during cleaning and charging.

After the coating is thoroughly dry a semi-vitrifiable composition, consisting of clay potash or soda and oxid of lead or litharge, in the following proportions, clay ten parts, potash or soda ten to fifteen parts, silicious sand fifty parts, and litharge thirty parts, tempered with water to the consistence of thick cream, should be applied three or four times with a brush over the surface of the outer coating. Suffering it to dry, after each application. This concludes the preparation of the outside of the retort.

The inside of the gas retort is to be protected from the action of the sulfur, &c., as before specified, by a composition similar to that described above as being put on over the last stratum or coating of the composition on the outside of the retort, viz, clay, potash or soda, silicious sand, and litharge. The clay in this should be in rather larger proportion to make it more adhesive.

This composition should be put on with a brush in successive coats over the whole ininterior coating may be varied as further experience shall dictate. v

The interior coating may be renewed from time to time without cooling the retort, in the following manner: A dry powder of the following materials, in these proportions, crystallized carbonate of soda twenty-nine parts, oxid of lead (litharge) thirty parts, and pure silicious sand sixty parts by weight,

sary than the care alwaysused in graduallyheating up gas-retorts for the first time.

Having thus fully described the method of treating gas-retorts in which my invention consists, I shall merely refer to the accompanying drawings, which represent a perspective view of an ordinary gas-retort,

the parts A and B showing the manner of V wrapping, and of applying the composition.

I am aware that different means have been used to prepare gas-retorts which should not be liable to the disadvantages of the ordinary iron and clay gas-retorts, and that retorts for making potassium and for other purposes have been wrapped and coated with clay, but that was fora higher heat continued but a short time, while the peculiarity of my composition and method of ap-' plication is that it is calculated to withstand a comparatively moderate heat for a long time; and should slight cracks take place on first heating up, the semi-vitrification of the composition closes them. The number of strata or coatings is a matter of much importance as a check or crack in one stratum is found by experience not to extend to the one next below it.

What I claim as my invention, and Wish to secure by Letters Patent is:

The application to gas retorts of'a coating 7 which consists of a series of layers or lamiuse of luting and metallic wrapping substantially as specified.

I ADRIAN R. TERRY.

I/Vitnesses: I

A. I/V.VBOWMAN, N. CALLAN. 

